Timing & Future of Venture Global’s CP2 LNG Project Murky
The timing (even the very future) for Venture Global’s proposed Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2) LNG export plant is murky at best. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in June issued a 2-1 decision to approve the project (see FERC Approves Expansion of Venture Global’s CP LNG Export Plant). However, the project is on hold (with more than a dozen other projects) from Joementia’s “pause” on new export approvals that began in January (see White House Makes it Official – Biden Declares War on LNG Exports). Even if President Trump overturns Biden’s pause on LNG approvals and stamps “approved” on CP2’s application on January 20th, there’s still a major roadblock. Read More “Timing & Future of Venture Global’s CP2 LNG Project Murky”
NATIONAL: Analysts examine today’s USA natural gas price rise; Exxon raises capital spending as worldwide oil glut looms; Biden EPA spends $735 million on electric school buses; Improving well productivity helps U.S. oil companies increase production at a lower cost; Trump, Congress to alter, not erase Biden energy legacy; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC makes deepest cut yet to 2024 world oil demand forecast. 
PennEnergy Resources, LLC, the 11th largest shale driller in Pennsylvania, agreed to a “deal” with the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ), the Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Josh Shapiro Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to pay a $2 million fine and spend another $3.6 million on “upgrades” related to air emissions at its well pads. Based on inspections done in 2018 (six years ago!), the EPA accused PennEnergy of illegal air emissions at five “facilities” (well pads) in Butler County, PA. Yet PennEnergy is being forced to “fix” 17 of its oil and gas production facilities and implement “partial measures” at an additional 32 facilities in Butler County and neighboring Lawrence County. 
Yesterday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported five states produced more than 70% of the record 113.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of U.S. marketed natural gas production in 2023. Two of the five were in the Marcellus/Utica: Pennsylvania (18% of the country’s gas) and West Virginia (8% of the country’s gas). We did some digging and found that when adding the production from PA, WV, and OH, the three together represented 31.5% of all the natural gas produced in the U.S. in 2023. It is an astonishing fact! 
The environmental left is hellbent on regulating fossil fuels, including oil and natural gas, out of existence. One of their favorite (false) memes is to claim methane is a bazillion times more “potent” in causing global warming than other things, like carbon dioxide. The false narrative continues that shale drilling is causing a stratospheric increase in fugitive methane leaks into Mom Earth’s atmosphere. Except….it isn’t true. According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, methane emissions from the country’s top oil and gas-producing basins have fallen 44 percent since 2011. Methane emissions right here in the Marcellus/Utica have fallen 52% from 2019 to 2023! 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook yesterday, the agency’s monthly best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. In October, the EIA predicted the average spot price for natural gas would be $3.10/MMBtu in 2025 (see 
Yesterday, President-elect Donald Trump posted an interesting message to his Truth Social account: “Any person or company investing ONE BILLION DOLLARS, OR MORE, in the United States of America, will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals. GET READY TO ROCK!!!” The implication is that the incoming Trumpsters will move heaven and earth to ensure more major manufacturing and infrastructure projects are built here in the U.S.A. Finally, someone who gets it! 
What is the Biden Department of Energy (DOE) hiding? Four times now, Republican lawmakers from Congress have asked the DOE to reveal the scientific process it is using to “evaluate” how the federal government approves LNG export requests. The Bidenistas are stonewalling and refusing to comply with the request, implying they are using less-than-rigorous standards to produce a fake report. The Bidenistas are using political science instead of real science to evaluate LNG exports. You can expect a politically motivated report when the ditsy Jennifer Granholm (DOE Secretary) finally issues the LNG report we’ve been waiting for for the past year. 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule updating its regulations to include Version 4.0 of the Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines, as adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). The revisions are designed to promote greater efficiency and reliability of the natural gas industry’s operations and strengthen the cybersecurity protections provided within the standards. This action builds on (works in tandem with) the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) annual Security Directives aimed at protecting pipelines from being hacked. 
Yesterday, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) voted to award a contract to Gulfport Energy to drill and frack under (not on) about 30 acres of the Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in Belmont County. Commissioners also voted to open an additional 884 acres of Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County for oil and gas development. During the meeting, commissioners had to work above the chaotic noise from anti-fossil fuel zealots who dressed up in Christmas attire and sang Christmas “carols” substituting anti-fracking lyrics. Yeah, antis made horses’ rear-ends of themselves, as they typically do. 
Pennsylvania assesses an impact fee (PA’s version of a severance tax) on shale drillers, raising revenues that are paid to local municipalities and the black hole of Harrisburg politicians. Yesterday, the PA Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) issued an estimate for how much the impact fee will raise this year, which will be distributed next year. The IFO says it thinks, based on the price of low natural gas and the number of new and existing wells, that PA will generate $163.8 million from the impact fee in 2024, a decrease of $15.8 million (8.8%) from 2023. Looking back further, the price is down $115.1 million (41%) from 2022. Why did impact fee revenues drop so dramatically over the past two years? 
One month ago, we brought you the news that Diversified Energy and EQT Corporation had settled a class action lawsuit originally brought by several West Virginia landowners (see 
Last week, MDN told you the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, is making changes to how it decides which new power plants can connect to the system first. The new policy *favors* adding natural gas-fired power over other types of power like unreliable solar and wind (see